Gods, that was horrible.

Today a friend got sentenced to 4 and a half months in prison.

I suppose, really, you could say I don't actually know him that well - we only met properly last year, and we've never sat and talked for hours or anything like that - but we've seen each other quite often, and we have a fair bit in common, including someone we both love. And there's just something about him, he's a really, really nice bloke, and I really like him. And now I'm worried for him, as well as worrying very much about the people who love him.

I sat in the public gallery in the court today and watched it all unfold. It was like watching a train crash in slow motion - horrible, inevitable, ponderous, catastrophic - and with someone you care about at ground zero. Most of the people there today were also there last week, when the hearing ended up being adjourned on a technicality. This week, everyone was orders of magnitude more tense, more scared, more worried for him. How did we know?

The public gallery was full today, the same as it was last week. I'm not the only person who likes him a lot. I hope people can find the time to keep in touch with him for the time he's away from us. I'm terrible at keeping in touch with people - I regularly manage to lose touch with my family from one season to the next - but tonight before I go to sleep, I'm going to write a letter to him, so it's ready to send as soon as we've got an address for him. It's all I can think to do. It doesn't seem enough. It doesn't seem like anything. But it's all I can think to do.

Paging Morpheus

In a few hours I have to get up and go to work, then I'm heading back to Cambridge, probably for the Calling, but more generally just to be there. It would probably be useful if I were to sleep and have a bath at some point before I head back too. I suppose I could have the bath now, because sleep really isn't looking likely just yet...

In other news, my KoC rank now is somewhere in the vague vicinity of 46500th. Given that there only ever seem to be between 2 and 3 thousand people logged on at any given time, I can only conclude that I'm not doing that well  :)  I should probably stop playing that right now though, it's a particularly useless thing to be doing when I'm meant to be sleeping. Displacement activity, I guess... requires just enough thought to stop me thinking about anything more serious.

I've written my letter. It's hard to know what kind of thing to put in it... what might cheer a person up, and what might just accentuate their situation? I hope I get it right.

Kings of Chaos

( old KoC entry )

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( yoink )

"There could be... outfits"

I think I've decided on my main outfit for Whitby... I'll wear it to the Calling tonight.

(subject/quote from Buffy the Vampire Slayer)